Some things grab hold of me, bite down, and won't let go — the Oxford Comma, for example. In a routine visit to my doctor recently I credited (or blamed) her for getting me started on long slow distance running when, half a dozen years ago, she observed that my weight and blood pressure were both getting into unhealthy zones. She suggested that I should exercise more.

"I'm your Frankenstein's Monster," I told her, as she shook her head about my winter/spring marathon and ultramarathon schedule.